·
Luxury travel show ILTM
Arabia to launch at Arabian Travel Market
·
The Middle East registered
a 9 per cent growth in outbound travel numbers in 2015, making it the fastest
growing outbound
market
·
UAE outbound travel grew
19% between 2013 and 2015
Expenditure
on outbound travel from the Middle East is expected to reach $165.3 billion by
2025, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council.
Highlighting
the buoyant outbound travel market, another report, issued by the United
Nations World Tourism Organisation (2015 Tourism Highlights), which includes
research teams from Frost & Sullivan and Insights Middle East, revealed a 9
per cent growth in the number of outbound travellers from the region in 2015,
while the total estimated value of outbound travellers from the GCC in 2014 was
$64 billion.
The common denominator for both these reports is that the growth is being
driven by international luxury travellers, which dovetails conveniently with
the launch of International Luxury Travel Market (ILTM) Arabia, in
collaboration with Arabian Travel Market (ATM).
The
new vertical luxury event takes place on the first two days of the four-day ATM
(Monday 24 and Tuesday 25 April) located in hall 1 of the Dubai World Trade
Centre.
| alison-gilmore. |
ILTM
Arabia will target high net-worth travellers from throughout the GCC and wider
Middle East region, with buyers from the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar expected
to have a particularly strong presence.
Alison
Gilmore, Portfolio Director for ILTM, said: “The Arabian outbound market is established
and affluent, with a growing generation of individuals looking to spend their
leisure time in the world’s finest places.
This year we are inviting some of our closest partners to experience the
new ILTM Arabia and explore the increasing business opportunities from the
region’s highest net worth travellers.”
Simon
Press Senior Exhibition Director, Arabian Travel Market, commented: “Although
low oil prices and sluggish economic growth at home might be stifling business
confidence, the strength of the US dollar of which many of the GCC currencies
are pegged to, means travelling overseas is invariably better value than it was
in the past. The UAE for example witnessed a 19% increase in outbound trips to
Europe in 2013-2015.”
Research company Euromonitor International, says the number
of outbound trips from the UAE alone increased by 5 per cent to 3.5 million in
2015, with those travellers spending $19.35 billion, up 10 per cent on 2014 -
UAE residents travelled for longer and spent more in 2015.
Only the most discerning luxury travel buyers from the
region will be invited to the event including companies such as FSMagic and
Quintessentially Travel. Buyers will be fully hosted by ILTM and attend one-to-one, pre-scheduled
appointments with up to 25 international luxury travel brands – a first for ATM
and the proven successful ILTM portfolio format.
Confirmed
exhibitors at ILTM Arabia include Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts and
Conrad Hotels & Resorts, Small Luxury Hotels of the World, The One
Barcelona (Spain) and Velaa Private Island (Maldives).
For
more information please contact david.todd@reedexpo.co.uk, or visit www.iltm.com/arabia
